I've arrived in Arizona, and even had my first experience with SB 1070.
It was so harsh, having to present a form of photo identification to the patrolman. Woe. Woe is me, for my life has been ruined.
Seriously, people, it's nothing compared to the checkpoints you'll see in Iraq. Having to drive past a checkpoint and wave your ID at him as you go past? Golly gee. When you examine the alternatives, I have to wonder at the mind that thinks it's better to have these 'undocumented citizens' pouring into our nation. I've had me a look at the towns they infest, and I gotta say it reminds me rather uncomfortably of the third-world pissholes and the urban slums I've seen. How can someone defend this? How can someone say "These people have a right to be here!" when all they are doing is importing the same shit that made Mexico so damn unlivable?
Don't get me wrong, I'm anything but opposed to immigration. I'm the great-grandson of an immigrant, and I consider my family story to be a pretty good example of just what they meant when they said America was the land of opportunity. My great-grandfather, Philip James Schnepp, was a German-speaking potato farmer in Michigan. He came over here with little more than the clothes on his back. What he taught his son led to my grandfather, Howard Schnepp, being a very successful businessman after he served as a Navy fighter pilot in the last days of World War II. What he taught his son led to my father, Steve Schnepp, being a successful automotive engineer. Not the best in his field, maybe, but good enough that they haven't sold his job to India yet. He's also done time as a church elder and a cub scout leader. I'm not sure what went wrong with his son. My cousins are a lawyer, a physicist of some kind (hey, whaddya want from me, I pull lanyards for a living!), and a pediatrician. It's not a stretch to say that I'm the scruffiest li'l bastard of the bunch,
In short? The Schnepp family came here with nothing, and while none of us were millionaires we've done more than well enough for ourselves. You can see how I have little sympathy for those protesting the 'lack of opportunity' those 'poor, oppressed minorities' have. They had something going decades ago. That time has come and gone. In America today, the only reason you fail is because you failed. It's not because 'The Man' is keeping you down. It's because you did not work hard enough. See, that's what my father taught me when I was growing up under his roof, something I'm pretty sure Philip James Schnepp knew even better than I: Those who do not work do not eat. I learned that how hard you worked, how frugal you were, and how smartly you operated had a direct relationship with how well off you were. It's a pity so many people seem to have forgotten this simple, basic, fundamental fact.
In other news, there are apparently conspiracy theories around this fort. Those are always good for a laugh. I wonder if the Air Force guys in Area 51 think the same thing about their conspiracy theories?
